Too Many Lies
by Yazzy
Summary: AU, ReiBryan, yaoi. Rei Kon is living in two worlds. In one he has a wife and children, and in the other he has Bryan. What will happen when his lies go too far and those worlds come crashing together?
1. Chapter 1

Whee, new fic! And this one's going to be quite a long one, because I have all sorts of plans in store for Rei...

So here's the first chapter, enjoy, and don't forget to R&R!

* * *

Every morning, Rei Kon wakes up beside his wife. He knows that she isn't a bad person- far from it in fact. She's cheerful, pleasant and pretty. She's given him two children- a girl and a boy- and she looks after him and them admirably. She cooks his meals for him, washes his clothes for him, and generally makes his life easier. She loves him. And he loves her back. But not in the same way.

It's always been hard for Rei. And he's known since it started that he's doing the wrong thing. That it'll all go wrong someday. That someone will find out. He knows that when he sneaks off on evenings and weekends to be with his lover he's being a terrible husband and a terrible father. But he can't help it.

He's known he was gay since he was fifteen, but a drunken mistake at sixteen left him with the prospect of being a father, so he married the woman who is now his wife. And now he's twenty-eight. His daughter is twelve, and his son has just turned eleven. His wife, like him, is twenty-eight. And then there's Bryan.

Bryan, who is twenty-nine, is a tall, toned, devastatingly handsome Russian, and he makes Rei -ache- with love. He's a little quirky and strange, but Rei loves him. And he loves Rei in return. Bryan makes Rei feel special and beautiful, and he makes him soar.

When his desk job becomes too boring or too stressful, there's something Rei likes to imagine. Waking up one morning beside Bryan. Wrapped in strong arms and pressed against a firm chest. It would be so nice, he thinks, to run his fingers through Bryan's silky, lavender-coloured hair.

It would be nice to wake up feeling like he's in the right place.

It would be nice to not have to live a lie any more.

But every morning he wakes up beside his wife, her mass of pink hair tickling his nose and getting in his way. Every morning, she snuggles herself into his arms, and every morning she strokes his hair. And she smiles, and he smiles back.

And he knows he's in the wrong place.

And he knows he's living a lie.

* * *

Rei Kon shut his front door behind him at precisely seven minutes past six, shrugging off his coat and hanging it over the end of the banister carelessly. "Rei? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Mariah. I'm home." He smiled forcedly as his wife appeared from inside the kitchen, hair tied back in a messy ponytail, mixing bowl and spoon in hand. "Nice day?"

"Yeah, it's been okay. The washing machine isn't working again though."

"Again?" Rei sighed. The washing machine -always- seemed to be broken. "Should we just get a new one this time? It costs almost as much to get it fixed every time..."

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"Where are the kids?" And here, Rei felt he could be really sincere. He did love his children.

"Well, you know Niu. She's holed up in her room on the playstation, the phone, her gameboy and a dozen other things besides..." Rei smiled, nodding. He did know. Niu was technology mad, especially when it came to videogames... "And Jin is round at Tom's." Not surprising. Those two were inseparable... "How was work?"

"Oh, the same as usual." Rei felt a tiny hint of relief creep in as Mariah started mixing again. If she was giving cooking her full attention... "Listen, uh...would you mind if I went over Martin's later? His girlfriend's just left him for some rich older guy, I think he needs a bit of cheering up..."

For the first time, Rei really looked at Mariah. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve to be lied to like this. She didn't deserve to be cheated on. It made him feel so guilty that he had to say something to make it all feel less...terrible. "I guess he isn't as lucky as me."

"Hm?"

"Well...I have you, don't I?" Mariah giggled and walked over to him, stretching up to kiss his cheek.

"You're so sweet, Rei."

"Actually, not so sweet. More like sweaty. I'm going to get a shower." Rei said lightly, starting off up the stairs. "The air con in the office only ever seems to stop working in the height of summer..." Mariah laughed and went back into the kitchen, leaving Rei to run upstairs and into the bathroom, locking the door and switching the shower on. And then he got his mobile out. After a few rings, Bryan picked up.

"Hey Rei. How's my sexy little bastard today?"

"About to get in the shower, actually..."

"Really?" Bryan sounded intrigued, but Rei didn't dare stay on the line long.

"Look, um...is it okay if I come over tonight?"

"It's okay for you to come over any time you like, Rei. I gave you a key, remember?"

"Yeah...I...I know, but-"

"What time?"

"About...eight? Half eight?"

"Make it half eight, my editor's going spare on me for missing my deadline." Rei laughed softly, Bryan was a writer, and his editor, Cherie, was the bane of his life.

"If you need to work-"

"All work and no play makes Bryan a lonely and sexless boy." Rei had to stop himself from laughing out loud.

"I'll see you at about half eight then, right?"

"Right."

"And now I'm off to enjoy my shower-"

"Stop! Don't say anything else! I need to concentrate, not sit and think about you in the shower, wet and naked-" A pause. "You bastard. It'll be all your fault if Cherie kills me." Rei giggled quietly.

"See you later."

He turned the phone off and tucked it into one of his pockets. Sighing, he stripped off his clothes and stepped under the warm spray of the shower.

* * *

"Did you enjoy your shower?" Mariah asked politely as the chatter at the table died away.

"Yeah, he did." Cut in Niu before Rei had a chance to reply.

"How do you know your dad was enjoying his shower?"

"He was singing, that's why!" Rei laughed. Niu was an amazing girl, witty and funny...not pretty, but kind. Like her mother, only with Rei's long dark hair.

"Well, I suppose I can't deny it..."

"It was kinda funny when he started singing Elvis songs though..."

Rei smiled over at Jin, who smiled back. Jin was quiet, acutely so, and he hid behind a swathe of thick black hair he had inherited from his Uncle Lee. "I happen to think I'm pretty good at singing Elvis songs." Rei joked back, laying his knife and fork side by side on his plate. A glance at the clock told him that it was quarter past eight. Well...

"I...told Martin I'd be over at about half eight..." He stood up, looking at the cream walls rather than at Mariah. "So I'll see you later, okay?"

"What time will you be back?"

"Uh...I don't know. Depends how cut up Martin is."

"Well, if I don't see you tonight, I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

"Yeah." He strolled over and bent to kiss her cheek before leaving the room, going out into the darkened passage to collect his coat and car keys and then setting off for Bryan's flat.

* * *

"Did you enjoy your shower?"

"Immensely." Rei said softly, melting into Bryan's arms. The Russian held him tightly for a minute or so, then let go slowly, pulling Rei into his messy flat. "So did you finish what it was you needed to do?"

"In the end, no. Too busy thinking dirty thoughts about you and your shower. I did start some -very- rude poetry on the subject though, so the time spent wasn't a complete waste..."

"Rude poetry?" Asked Rei, flopping down on the crumpled green sofa. Bryan sat beside him, laying an arm around his shoulders.

"-Very- rude poetry." The Russian corrected. "The first line went something like 'I want to fuck my boyfriend every day, tenderly on a bed of roses or bent like a bitch over my table.' Only a bit more poetic than that." Rei laughed and rested his head on his boyfriend's shoulder. Bryan was, admittedly, a bit of a pervert. But in a nice way.

"So which is it tonight?"

"Hm?"

"Tenderly with roses or bent over the table?" Bryan hmm-ed.

"And how did you know I've been desperate all day?"

"Intuition." Rei replied, smirking. Bryan looked him in the eye, lustful.

"Rei-"

"Shh." The Chinese commanded, one hand finding Bryan's crotch and giving it a sharp squeeze. Bryan gasped and grabbed him, holding him closer. "Rei..."

"I told you to shh, Bryan. Now come on, it's bedtime." Bryan smirked back at him, standing up and wrapping his arms around his shorter lover. Their lips met and for a few seconds Rei completely forgot about Mariah and his own guilt. All that really mattered was those lips, that kiss, and getting more...

* * *

I know that was short for a first chapter, but the next one is longer, I promise! 

Next chapter: Mariah becomes suspicious, Rei lies, and Bryan runs a bath.

R&R please!


	2. Chapter 2

Ah, second chapter! And just to clarify, Bryan knows that Rei's married. It's Mariah who doesn't know anything about the whole thing...

* * *

"You were out till late last night..."

"I know. Martin wouldn't let me leave..." Rei groaned, keeping his eyes firmly shut.

"Come on, get up. You'll be late for work." Rei groaned again in protest and opened his eyes, feeling them burn from the sudden burst of sunlight. It had been about three in the morning when he'd finally gotten back from Bryan's, and getting up at eight left him with precious few hours sleep. And he loved sleep. He -needed- it. Much more than other people. Eight hours was skimping at best.

He dragged himself out of bed and slouched along to the bathroom, where he proceeded to get toothpaste all over the place. The toothpaste, however, woke him up some, so that by the time he got back to the bedroom he could finally appreciate the fact that there was a new picture hanging on the blue wall that had most definitely not been there the night before. "New picture?"

"Yeah. I thought we needed a bit of...I don't know, just a bit more decoration, you know? What do you think?"

Rei squinted at the picture of a lemon on a tablecloth as he buttoned up his shirt. "It's...nice."

"And that shirt hasn't been washed yet. Get the blue one from the front of the wardrobe." Rei obeyed and after a quick breakfast of toast and jam left for work.

* * *

He was just reading through some particularly finicky documents when the phone on his desk rang. He snatched it up gratefully. "Department three, Rei Kon speaking."

"I guessed."

"Oh...Bryan..."

"Listen...tomorrow's Saturday, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Want to come out for something to eat? Evening meal?" Rei sighed.

"I think Mariah has something planned..." He sighed again. "I'm so sorry, Bryan..."

"Hey, I understand."

"But it isn't -fair-...not to you, anyway..."

"Look, it's okay. I'll just get on with some work. I'm a writer, I can make my working hours up as I go along." Rei rubbed his forehead with a nervous hand.

"Bryan...I'm sorry..."

"Hey, you don't need to apologise to me. I know what it's like for you." Rei looked over to the office door, where his boss was just coming in, and sighed for the second time.

"Look, I'm going to have to go..."

"Right. Don't let your boss-man eat you, okay? Love you."

"Love you too."

* * *

Much later that night, still under the pretence of seeing 'Martin', Rei was curled up on the sofa with Bryan, eyes closed. "Tired?" The Russian asked lightly.

"Very."

"Well, we -were- up pretty late last night..." Rei smiled at the fond memory and snuggled closer to his lover.

"We were indeed. And then one of us had to get up at eight for work. And that someone wasn't you."

"Take a nap then. I'll wake you up at say...eleven? Then you can at least be home before midnight."

"Make it ten. I have to talk to Mariah about Jin starting at secondary school..." Bryan sighed and kissed his nose absently.

"I don't think I could stand having to look after children. I don't think I'd be very good at it for a start...and then there's the baby tantrums, the teenage screeching...I'd go insane. In fact, it probably explains why you're so mad."

"I'm not mad, you're mad." Rei mumbled.

"Well, I did get sectioned at one point..."

"Really?"

"Mm-hm. You know me, I was a problem child. I read up about schizophrenia and displayed the appropriate symptoms for long enough to cause a massive amount of trouble." Bryan paused. "Yeah, that was about the time I thought arson was a really good idea as well."

"Arson? I knew you were a bit wild, but arson?" Bryan sighed and closed his eyes as well.

"I was in care. In and out of foster homes. Most of them were terrible. I was off the rails. I set things on fire, I beat people up, I did all kinds of things. Did drugs, drank too much. And it took three years of therapy to get me over it all. You might think sometimes I'm untalkative, or I'm not really being emotional, or showing the wrong emotion, but...well, you should have seen me back then. I was nothing but hate. I -did- nothing but hate."

"Wow..." Rei said softly, opening his eyes and looking up at Bryan carefully. They'd been together for quite a while now, and Bryan hadn't even so much as hinted at anything that serious... "I find it hard to talk about it. I've been thinking about how to tell you for a while, but...well." Rei yawned, nodding.

"I'm glad you got over the hating thing before you met me..." And with that said, he drifted off to sleep. Bryan smiled at him.

"Me too."

* * *

"Rei? Come on, Rei, wake up..."

"Nnnh?" Rei opened his eyes and tried to sit up. However, it seemed that something was holding him down...something... "Bryan?"

"I'm sorry, Rei, but I fell asleep as well...I woke up about one o clock and I just thought...well. You know. It wasn't like I could wake you up and make you drive home at that kind of time, and I didn't see why we shouldn't be comfortable..."

Rei felt a shiver of contentedness pass through him. He was in bed. Waking up beside Bryan. Bryan's strong arm clamped over his waist. Bryan's bare, muscled chest. And even if the pillows were completely flat and he had a crick in his neck...he was with -Bryan-! He reached up a hand and twirled a strand of the Russian's hair in his fingers, smiling. "I've...woken up next to Mariah for twelve years..." He shifted, shaking his head. "Why the hell didn't we do this before?"

"I don't know."

"I've dreamed about waking up beside you in the morning..." Rei whispered. "Every morning I wake up and it's her in my bed beside me and I lie there and all I want is -you-...I want to wake up in your bed...I want...I want..."

"You want your family to be happy, Rei. You want your kids to have their father around. I know you do, and I love you for it." Rei heaved a sigh and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"I suppose...I don't -have- to go back to Mariah...not for a while..."

"No." Rei flopped back down again, burying his face in Bryan's chest and sighing.

"Sometimes I wonder if it's okay to keep lying to her like I do. Because I do love her. But more like you would love a sister. And I love my children. Even if I -do- think I'm too young for them to be so old..."

"But isn't that why you started lying to them in the first place? Because you didn't want them to get hurt?" Bryan asked quietly. "We've been together, what? Six months? Longer? And you've had men before that-"

"But they never meant to me what you mean. I -love- you, Bryan."

"I love you too. I'm just trying to say that maybe in this case, lying to them is a good thing, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess." Bryan nodded, taking hold of Rei's braid and tickling his neck with it. The Chinese giggled, dragging Bryan into a kiss. The Russian smiled, kissing him back. "Hm, a morning person are we?"

"I don't know..." Rei replied quietly, eyes glittering. "Why don't we find out together?"

* * *

"Rei? God, Rei, where have you been?" Rei found himself pounced on as he opened the door. "I was so worried...you didn't answer your phone, you didn't call...what happened?"

"Martin started crying, and I...I couldn't leave him alone...I'm sorry. I fell asleep, we both did..." Mariah looked up at him suspiciously.

"Rei...tell me honestly...were you -seeing- someone?"

"What?" Rei felt his heart stop. Did she know-? Could she know-?

"Is that where you've been these last few weeks? Are you seeing another woman? We never have sex any more-"

"Whoa...no...stop. Mariah, I'm not seeing another woman." Rei said honestly, feeling as if he'd gotten off on a mere technicality. "I'm not. I swear. And...I..." What was he supposed to say now? 'I wouldn't sleep with any woman it's not just you'? "Work's hard...I'm always tired...I'm sorry..."

Mariah buried her face in his neck, her hair, as usual, tickling his nose. "I didn't realise it was bothering you so much...but I..." He hesitated. "I..." Before he could make up any more pathetic excuses Mariah shoved him up against the door and kissed him. His skin crawled at the feel of her tongue against his. It was wrong. All wrong. He didn't want this...he didn't want it at all...

"I love you, Rei."

"Mariah...I..." Rei swallowed, feeling trapped and scared. She looked up at him, suspicious again.

"Don't you want this?"

"I...I do...it's just I..." Rei felt thoughts and excuses fly around his head. "I'm having...problems with..." Problems with WHAT? He screamed at himself. "...It. You know."

"No, I don't know." It? It?

"With...um..." Rei felt himself make a gesture at his nether regions, blushing crimson. What on -Earth- was he saying?

"Getting it up?" He felt himself go redder in the face, and not for the reason Mariah supposed he was. "Rei...why didn't you say something?"

"Because..." And again, with the lies. More lies and more lies, all the time. "It's...it's embarrassing. Look, I...I just don't want to talk about it. I'm going out."

"Rei-"

"I'll be back later." And without looking at Mariah he walked out of the house and got into his car.

* * *

"Bryan?" Rei stepped into Bryan's flat, slightly nervous. He hadn't used the key Bryan had given him before. "Are you in?"

"Rei?" Bryan's upper half appeared from behind the study door, followed by the rest of him. "Hey. I thought you were out all day with Mariah?"

"Bryan..."

"Something happened." He started to walk forwards and Rei met him halfway, flinging his arms around him and burying his face in the Russian's shoulder. "Has she...found out?"

"No...but almost...and I had to lie to her again Bryan..." The tall Russian heaved a sigh, pulling back to look at Rei with concern. "I had to make something up on the spot about why we aren't having sex any more..." Rei nuzzled up to him again, sniffing.

"What did you tell her?"

"It doesn't matter. It was stupid."

"Fair enough. You want some coffee?"

"No...I feel sick..." Rei sniffed again, then sobbed. Bryan held his lover against his chest and let Rei cry into his shoulder, stroking his back slowly. "I can't do this much more, Bryan...I hate lying to her. I lie to her, and Niu, and Jin...I'm a horrible excuse for a person!"

"Don't be stupid. Come on. I know what you need."

"What?"

"A long, hot bath." And, without allowing the Chinese to protest, Bryan dragged Rei into the bathroom and slammed the taps on. "And then perhaps a massage when you're done. A nice, long one. I did a course once, you know."

"Did you?"

"Mm-hm. All the oils and everything. I could make you relax so much I could roll you up into a ball..."

"I could use that..." Rei smiled wanly. "I'm sorry for coming and disturbing you...but I couldn't stay or I'd have to keep on lying...now she thinks I'm impotent at least maybe she'll leave me alone..."

"Impotent? You?" Bryan smirked. "I'm really, -really- glad that's a lie..." He smiled, turning off the taps and testing the water with a hand. "And seriously, how many times do I have to tell you? I don't mind you coming over. Come any time you like. I'm usually here, and if I'm not I soon will be. And I -always- want to see you, Rei." With a short laugh, Bryan picked something out of one of the cupboards and threw it in the bath, where it proceeded to fizz. "Now get in, have a soak, and if you want me to help you wash your hair then shout for me."

Rei reached for the first button of his shirt, then stopped. "Bryan?" The Russian turned in the doorway, and Rei grabbed hold of him, kissing him fiercely. Bryan reciprocated, arms firm around Rei's back. And Rei felt right again. This was how it was supposed to be. Not Mariah's chest, but Bryan's chest. Not Mariah's lips, but Bryan's lips. Not Mariah. Not Mariah at all. Bryan was right. Bryan made him feel right.

"I love you..." He whispered, letting go.

"I know. And I love you too."

* * *

"Rei? Rei, please, come home. I'm worried about you." Rei listened to the first of three messages Mariah had left on his mobile. And he felt terrible again.

"It's me again, Rei...please, just call. Call, or send me a text, send Niu a text, anything...just as long as I know you're okay..." Even worse...

"Rei? Please...please...phone me...I know you're embarrassed but...please, Rei...just phone..."

Rei sat and stared at the phone for a couple of minutes before starting to formulate some kind of reply to all that. 'Hi Niu.' He began. Better to text Niu than have to think of Mariah on the other end of the line worrying over him... 'Please tell your mum I'm fine, but I'm not coming home tonight. I'm staying with a friend. Tell her I'm sorry I've worried her. Love Dad.'

About a minute after that his phone starting ringing. Bryan appeared from his study. "Is that yours or mine ringing?"

"Mine."

"Oh. You going to answer it?"

"...No." Bryan looked thoughtful for a second.

"She'll be worried, you know."

"I sent Niu a text."

"Right." The phone continued to ring, then a missed call message and a voicemail alert popped up.

"Rei? Niu just told me about your text... And I know you have your phone on so I know...you're just not answering my calls. Rei, please...if you have a problem we need to talk about it...go to a doctor together or something...so I know you feel bad right now but...I'll see you in the morning, right?"

Rei let the phone drop from his hand onto the sofa cushion and closed his eyes, slumping back against the sofa. "What can I -do-, Bryan?"

"Honestly? I don't know. I know you don't want them to know you're gay and all...and I myself think maybe that's a good idea...but if it's getting to this stage...where you have to lie this much and run away from her...maybe it's time to tell her. Or even...maybe break up with her and say it's over something else-? No, that's still lying... Look, it's your choice. Whatever you do though, you're welcome here. Any time. For as long as you want." Bryan leaned down over the back of the sofa and kissed Rei's cheek, squeezing his shoulder with a comforting hand. "You want something to drink?"

"No. No thank you."

As Bryan went into the kitchen, a wave of shame crashed over Rei. What was he -thinking-, worrying his family like that? And using Niu as a go-between... He picked up his phone again. Message, text, to Niu. 'I'm sorry. All my love, Dad.'

Seconds later his phone started to go crazy. Niu, Jin and Mariah phoning him all at once. Voicemails popping up like rats. Texts as well. "Rei? Rei? Oh my God, Rei, pick up the phone! Please!" Mariah on the voicemail. A text from Niu 'Dnt kill urself!' What-?

And then he thought about it. That text he'd sent Niu. It must have sounded like-

The phone started ringing again, and Bryan came out of the kitchen looking puzzled and concerned. "They think I'm going to kill myself..."

"What?"

"They...they think I'm suicidal!"

"And have you replied?"

"...No."

"You might want to." Flustered, Rei pressed 'accept call'.

"Hello?"

"Dad! Dad!" Niu's voice, worried and scared. "Mum won't tell us what's wrong but please...just come home!" A muffled voice from the other end of the line, and then-

"REI! Oh my God, Rei..."

"Mariah...I..."

"Rei..."

"Are you crying?"

"Of course I'm crying! Jesus CHRIST, Rei, what's going on? What the hell was that text about? Are you okay?"

"I...I'm fine..." Rei felt instantly like a heap of slime. A maggot. A worm. Dirt to be trodden underfoot.

"Don't ever, EVER scare me like that again, Rei...and you can stay out tonight and be on your own and you can think about it but tomorrow you're coming home and we're going to -talk- about your...problem, okay?"

"Right..." Rei could hear his voice come out weak and pathetic. "I'm sorry, Mariah..." And he meant it. But she didn't know what he meant.

"Rei, it isn't your fault. It's fine, it's okay. You can get all kinds of treatment for things like that..."

"I-I know..."

"I'll see you tomorrow, honey. And I love you." Rei felt his lip quiver.

"I...I love you too..." And the line went dead.

It took about a second for the tears to hit, and when they did they left Rei a weak, sobbing mess, slumped against Bryan as the Russian comforted him.

* * *

Next Chapter: Bryan reveals his past to Rei, Rei does some more lying, and Mariah tries to help.

As ever, R&R please .


	3. Chapter 3

Another chapter! And lots of BryanRei 'ness.

* * *

It was Jin who answered the door to him the next day. He looked up with big, reproachful eyes. "We were worried." Rei looked down, crushingly ashamed. It always hurt him to do things like this to his family, but this time, this lie...it was the worst of all. 

"I know. I'm sorry." He opened his arms and Jin moved into them, butting his chest with his head.

"Mum was crying even after you rang off." As Jin spoke, Mariah appeared from the kitchen, bags under her eyes, eyes which lit up as she saw Rei.

"Rei!" Jin had the sense to move out of the way as his mother flung herself at her husband, hugging him tightly and giving him another stomach-churning kiss. "I was so scared..."

"I know...I'm sorry...I meant I was sorry for using Niu as a go-between last night...I wasn't thinking..." Mariah took a deep breath and gave him one last squeeze.

"Go and say hi to Niu and then we're sitting down and we're talking, okay?"

With a heavy heart, Rei set off up the stairs. Niu's door was closed, as per the usual. He knocked. "Yeah?"

"Is it okay if I come in?" There was a clattering and the door was dragged open.

"Dad!" And suddenly his arms were full of angry but relieved daughter. "You really, really worried us!"

"I know, Niu. I'm sorry."

"Promise you won't do it again?"

"Do what again?" Niu let go of him, looking up into his eyes, furious.

"Sound like you're about to top yourself! Charlie at school tried to and he sent one of his friends a message just like that!" Rei sighed.

"I meant I was sorry for making you tell your mother instead of me sending the message straight to her... I didn't mean to scare you."

"You better not have!" Rei smiled apologetically and ruffled her hair.

"Sorry, Niu." He was rewarded with a kiss to his cheek and a smile. And then Mariah appeared beside them and dragged him off into their bedroom, closing the door behind them.

* * *

About a minute later he wanted out. "Rei, are you even listening?" 

"...No. Not if I'm honest. I didn't sleep last night. I'm tired. And I don't want to talk about...that." Anything to avoid more lies.

"Rei-"

"I just don't want to discuss it, okay? It's...private." And a complete lie, he wanted to add.

"Even if you won't talk about it with me...will you go and see someone about it?"

"Yes. I'll go to the doctors' and see someone."

"I...I'm not angry with you, or anything. I don't blame you." Rei sighed and stared at the picture of the lemon. He would be willing to bet copious amounts of money that that came straight off an advice website, and that if he went onto their home computer the internet history would be full of things like noerection dot com or something equally as terrible. "I know. Good. I'm glad."

"You don't sound very glad."

"Well I am." Mariah sighed, shifting closer to him and stroking his cheek.

"I know it must be hard for you to admit it to me..."

"Hn." If only she was horrible, he thought, then maybe I wouldn't feel so guilty.

"You probably think I think you aren't a real man any more, but I don't think that at all. You're a man. You're -my- man, and I love you." Rei closed his eyes, sighing.

"I know. I know you do." A warm, soft body cuddled up next to his, and out of what was possibly instinct, possibly guilt and perhaps neither, he turned and laid an arm over it. And Mariah's hair tickled his nose once again.

* * *

Rei spent the rest of the day being a perfect husband and father. Which, in all honesty, he didn't mind. The only bad thing was that Mariah seemed to have heard that impotent men need a lot of kisses to make them feel better. 

And it made his skin feel funny and made his stomach churn, and not in the nice way kissing Bryan made him feel like. So at seven that night, after Mariah had taken the opportunity to kiss him again, Rei decided he needed some air. "Mariah...I'm going for a walk. Just for some fresh air. Clear my head, you know."

"Okay, honey." Honey. She only called him that occasionally, but now it was in her every sentence to him. Trying to show how much she cared. But Rei knew how much she cared. And that was part of the problem.

He pulled on his jacket and left the house, one hand in his pocket, clasped around his mobile. It didn't take him long to end up at the park, taking in the greenery and the flowers. He made his way to the most remote part of the place, where the park bordered onto private land and the grass was overgrown and no-one ever went. And he called Bryan.

"Rei! Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah. Mostly. She keeps kissing me though."

"Ahh. Trying to reinforce your manly pride? Reminding you that she finds you sexy?"

"I think it must be something like that..."

"Well you did tell her you're impotent you know."

"I know, smart alec. If I can, is it alright for me to come over l-"

"Yes. You know it is. It's always alright. Are you senile or something? I keep telling you to come whenever you want and you keep asking my permission. You don't need to, okay? Do you need it tattooed to your forehead?" Rei smiled, sighing.

"Bryan, I love you."

"I know you do. Because I'm wonderful." Bryan hmm-ed at the other end of the line. "Actually, if you come over tonight I have something I want to talk to you about."

"What?"

"About...before. My past. I want to tell you about it." Rei blinked.

"You want to tell...me?"

"I want you tell you. And if you can't make it, doesn't matter. It'll keep. Unlike your sanity." For the first time in what felt like forever, Rei laughed.

"Too right. See you later if I can, okay? Love you."

"You too."

Rei rang off, then beamed around at the scrubby trees and messy grass. Talking to or being with Bryan always seemed to provoke that reaction...

Then, unfortunately, it was time to head back home.

* * *

"Rei?" Mariah appeared at the top of the stairs as Rei opened the front door. "You're going out?" 

"Martin just called. I think...and I really do think, I'm not just misinterpreting his text..." He added lightly. "I think he's planning something drastic. He keeps saying he needs to tell me something, and that he needs to do something, so..." Mariah smiled down at him, her eyes shining.

"You're always thinking about other people, Rei...say hi to him from me, okay?"

"Will do."

* * *

"So, you managed to come. Who am I this time? Your boss? A colleague with a broken leg?" 

"You're a suicidal Martin." Rei laughed, hugging Bryan tightly.

"I'm still Martin? Fair enough..." A slight pause. "So are you feeling better?"

"Yeah. Niu was telling me about an outdoor art project she's doing, she didn't touch a videogame all day. And Jin stayed in as well." He shook his head. "You know, they're closer to knowing the truth than Mariah, really. All they know is that Dad has a problem. She thinks I'm impotent and embarrassed about it."

"Could be worse. You could have told her you wanted a sex change." Rei snorted then started to laugh. Everything felt better again now. Back in Bryan's arms, back listening to his voice, feeling his pulse, smelling his aftershave. And his skin...his pale, warm skin that made Rei feel so safe, so wanted...

"I keep thinking about waking up with you on a morning..." He began, sighing. "And I keep thinking...you know...well...is this how it's going to be forever? Will I have to make up lies to come and see you when I'm in my thirties? When I'm in my forties?"

"If you don't want Mariah and your kids to know, then yeah."

"But it isn't...it isn't -fair-! I want to be with you, I want to be able to go out with you when I want to, but I can't because of them but I don't want to hurt them so I can't -tell- them..." Bryan made no attempt to reply, only held Rei a little tighter. "And I hate lying to them all the time...most of what I -say- to them all is a lie..."

"I know. Like I said...maybe this is getting to the point where you need to tell them. But it's up to you, Rei." A short silence. "Come with me a second. I want to show you something."

Rei let Bryan take him by the hand and lead him over to the study door. The first time he'd made to go in there, Bryan had stopped him with a strange look on his face. "There's...personal stuff in there." He'd said. And Rei had never inquired any further, nor had he ever gone and looked inside while Bryan wasn't watching.

"It's nothing...dangerous, and it's nothing weird. In case you were wondering. It's just...things from ages ago." The Russian said hesitantly. "Because I know this whole situation is coming to a head and if you do decide to tell them and you do decide to...be open with them and come and live with me or anything...I want you to know exactly who it is you'll be living with.

"I've done time, Rei...I've done a lot of terrible things..." Bryan chewed his lip, then pushed open the study door. "It's easier if I show you."

Rei's first impression of the study was one of messy creativity. A desk, with a typewriter and computer and piles and piles of paper took up most of one wall, and all sorts of trinkets and ornaments were set out on the windowsill above it. Then there were filing cabinets along the next wall, and more piles of paper, and then...

Bryan shut the door behind them and Rei turned, finally looking at the wall opposite the desk. And it was covered in pictures...photos...leaflets and receipts... "It's...my timeline, if you like. I was in and out of families so much I collected keepsakes and photos just to remind me who they were and what it was like..." He smiled, walking over to the far left of the line of things stuck to the wall. "That was me when I was eleven." The Russian began, pointing at a picture of a much younger looking version of himself with a large dog at his heel. "That was when I was with my first foster family. They weren't so bad, really. But then there was...trouble with my foster mother's health and they couldn't look after me any more. So I got moved on." He pointed to another picture, one of the young him looking moody and angry. "Then the next ones...well they tried to be kind at first, but they didn't know anything about children. They were too strict, and then to soft. I started to hate them, and then I got into...a bad crowd. That crowd, actually."

Another photo, this time of five boys all about the same age- Bryan, a taller boy with shocking red hair, an even taller one with fair hair and a serious face, and a shorter boy with a large nose. And loitering slightly away from the rest of them, a boy with two-tone hair and triangles painted on his face...

"If you're bored and you don't want to hear the rest, just say..."

"No...I want to hear the rest..." Rei assured.

"Well, I was with that foster family for a while, but while I was with them I was getting into shady things. Vandalism, shoplifting...stuff like that. And when they found out, my foster family just shipped me straight out." A sigh, and the barest hint of a shudder. "And then they decided I needed some hard discipline, so I got a foster mother who screamed at me all day about every little fault she could find and a foster father who liked nothing better than to beat me until I bled."

Rei gasped, reaching for Bryan's hand and grabbing it. "I was really...glossing over a lot when I was talking to you the other night. By that time I was about thirteen, and I was even worse of a criminal. Me and that lot-" He pointed back at the photo of him and his friends. "Got into drugs, drink, mugging...anything to get back at the system, to get one over on all the adults. Me and Tala and Ian were all in care, and Kai and Spencer came from families where no-one cared about them and what they got up to.

"But like the last time, people found out. People grassed me up. But they didn't take me away at first, so I ended up in hospital. My foster father..." Bryan tailed off, looking uneasy.

"What did he do?"

"He stabbed me. Three times. There's the band- you know, the one they always give you in hospitals?"

"Bryan..." Rei couldn't find any words to say so he grabbed Bryan around the waist, hugging him as hard as he could.

"You might want to save the hugs for the bits that still make me cry..." The Russian whispered into his ear. Rei let go, looking up sadly.

"Bryan...I..."

"Hey, the scars faded. I got moved onto a different family. They were better. They were lovely, actually." He pointed to a picture of himself with a short blonde woman. They were both grinning, evidently happy. "But I screwed it up. I was still hanging about with the same people, and I kept getting into trouble...they were nice about it at first. They understood where I'd come from, and they knew what had happened to me...but I couldn't change. I was too weak. So they gave up on me."

At that, Rei could clearly see the tears in Bryan's eyes. "They took me out to a nice restaurant and explained to me that they did love me, but they couldn't look after me any more." He pointed. "There's the menu." His voice wobbled. "And inside I felt so empty...I suppose that was when I really started to go off it. I was in a children's home, I was fourteen, and even the people who said they loved me didn't want me. I went so crazy even Tala- and he was always the worst of us- stopped going around with me. I was nasty. I was violent. I committed arson, I burgled people, and then they found me another home."

Rei could tell that this was something Bryan had doubts about sharing, so he took hold of the Russian's hand, squeezing gently. Bryan sighed and closed his eyes for a second before continuing. "They...the next lot of foster parents, I mean...they gave permission for me to be involved in clinical trials. On the sly. So they got money and no-one knew about it. I was messed up. I was always ill, always tired, always being sick, I was depressed and suicidal...all because of the drugs they were giving me. And that went on for, oh, half a year? And I couldn't stand it any more.

"So that was when I pretended to be schizophrenic. I was desperate. I would have done anything to get away from them. I went into school- as a one-off thing, I never usually did- and started showing off as many schizophrenic symptoms as I could think of. Pretending I could hear voices, yelling that 'they' were trying to kill me...so they sectioned me, and they interviewed me and it all came out." Bryan stopped short, and then opened his arms, asking Rei for comfort. The Chinese obliged, and Bryan whispered the rest into his ear. "But only that I was faking it. I couldn't tell them about my foster parents...I was too afraid. They said that that along with the other things I'd done was the last straw, and..." A pause. "I...got put into a Youth Offender's Institution. For a year. And I -hated- it. And that was when I was at my worst. When I got out of there. I hated everyone and everything, and all I wanted was for people to hurt like I hurt. I started fights deliberately. I beat people up who I didn't even -know-...who'd never done anything..."

Bryan let go of Rei, walking along the timeline a little way until he came to a newspaper clipping. "'Luke Rabinsky. Loved son of Katya and Daniel.' 'Rabinsky, Luke. Killed before his time. Forever missed.'"

"Bryan..."

"I'd just turned seventeen, Rei. Who knows, maybe while you were getting Mariah pregnant I was stabbing this guy in a back alley?"

"Oh Bryan..." The Russian turned to face him, eyes glittering.

"They never caught me. I didn't get sent down again like I should have. But I didn't need anyone else to punish me. I was punishing myself enough. I cut myself and I maimed myself and I starved myself. They found me one day in a squat, bleeding half to death and dying from lack of food and drink. They had to take pictures for evidence because they thought at first someone had tried to murder me. They gave me one when I asked. But I keep it hidden." He continued, pointing to a sheet of tissue paper. "I only look at it when I really need to remind myself of how lucky I am now."

Rei reached out a hand to the flimsy purple paper, looking to Bryan for permission. "Look if you want. I don't...mind. Not if it's you." Rei pulled up the paper and then wished he hadn't. It was a very good photograph, but in that instance it made it all the worse. Someone, barely recognizable as Bryan, with long matted hair and tightly closed eyes was lying on a wooden floor. He was almost naked and covered in blood and cuts. His ribs were standing out so far it made Rei wince to see them. He was so thin, and looked so weak and defenceless...

"They patched me up and then...I was in therapy. For a long, long time. Three years, like I said before." Bryan seemed to cheer up now he'd reached that part of the story. "So when I was twenty-one, I moved. To here. I was in a smaller flat then, and I was just starting out as a writer..." He walked on, smiling now. "My first published poem." He pointed, looking proud. "First paycheck. A lot of firsts, actually. First novel published. First public speaking thing. And then there's now..."

Now they were at the end of the timeline, and Rei was shocked to find a picture of himself. He was so busy staring that he didn't notice Bryan moving away from him, retreating to the other side of the study. "So now you know about me...you know what I was."

"Is that why you write..."

"Depressing things? No, I do that because I'm good at it. Sometimes I make -myself- cry when I'm writing, I'm that good." Rei looked at the barely-visible floor and then up into Bryan's eyes.

"Thank you for showing me."

There was a second in which their eyes met, and then they were together, hands seeking and lips locked. "Rei, I love you..." Bryan managed to pant, holding Rei back for a second. The Chinese nodded, eyes blazing up at him.

"I love you too." And they were back as one again, kissing each other in a desperate, passionate frenzy.

"Rei...I want you to wake up beside me in the morning..." The Russian whispered.

"I want that too..." The Chinese took a deep breath, feeling his cheeks burn and his heart race. "But before that I want you to fuck me."

* * *

Next chapter: Mariah does some slapping, Rei gets angry, and Bryan is not in. 

R&R please!


	4. Chapter 4

Well hello there! Not much to say on this chapter apart from that it's quite short...but the next one will be longer.

* * *

"Rei?" Mariah appeared as he opened the front door the next morning, looking furious. "You lying little SHIT!"

"What are you- Ah!" Rei cried out and stepped back as Mariah slapped his cheek, making it burn red.

"How could you lie to me Rei?"

"I-"

"I phoned your office and asked for Martin's number! He's not one of your friends from work at all! He doesn't exist!"

"Mariah, I-"

"How could you do this to me? You're seeing some other woman! I know you are! Don't even TRY to deny it!" Vaguely aware of Niu and Jin watching from the top of the stairs, Rei attempted to reply.

"Mariah...there's no other woman..."

"Don't LIE!" The sheer irony of it all made Rei suddenly snap.

"It's one of the only things I've told you over the last few years that -isn't- a lie, Mariah."

"What?" She stopped suddenly, the wind taken out of her sails.

"I -am- seeing someone. But I wasn't lying. It isn't a woman. I'm gay, Mariah- I've always been gay. Since before we were together." Mariah slapped him again, looking wary and angry.

"Don't keep making up excuses, Rei. Stop lying. Just tell me who she is." Frustrated, Rei grabbed her by the upper arms and shook her.

"I'm not lying. I'm gay. When I go out on a night, when I 'work' at weekends...I've been seeing other men since we were first married. But the person I'm seeing now...it's serious, Mariah. I love him."

"What are you saying, Rei?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

"I didn't want to hurt you." Rei blurted out. "I wanted to be there for Niu when she was born. I wanted to be there for Jin when he was. I wanted...I wanted my family to be happy and I've -tried-, Mariah...but I can't keep pretending forever..." He took a deep breath. "I've always tried to do right by you and the kids and I've lied and lied to you for so long...it's all just lies! I'm not impotent, I just don't want to have sex with you because shockingly, you're not a man! And I wasn't suicidal last night and I wasn't embarrassed! I just couldn't face picking up the phone and LYING to you again!"

Mariah wrenched herself away from him, looking murderous. "Get out, Rei! If you can't just be honest and tell me the truth then get out!"

"I AM telling you the truth you stupid bitch!" Rei yelled back. Why now, when he'd finally been honest with her, didn't she believe him?

"Oh! Get out! Just get OUT!" Mariah screamed, running away into the kitchen. Rei looked to the top of the stairs. Niu and Jin were still there, looking down at him with confused and angry expressions on their faces. "Niu...Jin..." They both looked away. "I'm sorry..." No reply. And at that, he turned tail and ran.

* * *

"Bryan?" He called. letting himself back into the flat. "Are you in?" No reply, so evidently the Russian wasn't. Sighing heavily, Rei walked further inside and collapsed onto the sofa. It was all going so terribly wrong. Mariah wasn't supposed to find out. Niu and Jin -definitely- weren't supposed to find out. And now they had Rei was at rather a loss as to what to do about it. In the end, he decided to text Niu, because he couldn't face trying to contact Mariah and because texting meant he didn't have to speak to her for real.

'Hi Niu.' He started off. It took him a few minutes to think of what to say next. 'I didn't mean for you to find out like that. Love Dad.' The reply was almost instant, and it made Rei feel a little uneasy.

'I dnt bleve ur gay y cnt u tel the truth?' He stared at the screen, shocked. Niu didn't believe him?

'Why don't you believe me? I'm being honest.' He sent back.

Then his phone started to ring, so he answered it. "Hello?"

"Dad, what do you think you're -doing-? Mum's crying because of what you said to her! Why couldn't you have been honest instead of saying all that stuff about being gay?"

"I -was- being honest, Niu." Rei said slowly. Niu sounded upset...so he'd have to choose his words carefully.

"Stop it! Stop being such a...a wanker!"

"Niu! Don't you dare speak to me like that! I'm your father!" He retorted, shocked. He heard the door clicking behind him and felt like he just wanted to be swallowed into the floor.

"You can't be gay because you don't have a boyfriend!" Niu sounded as if she was on the verge of tears...

"Niu, I -do- have a boyfriend." He tried to say it gently but it came out exasperated.

"You don't have a boyfriend- you have -Mum-!"

"Niu, I have a boyfriend. I'm in his flat. He's here right now." At that point Bryan sat down beside him, evidently guessing what had happened.

"Then let me speak to him!" Puzzled, Rei held the phone out to Bryan.

"She...wants to speak to you." The Russian took the phone and held it to his ear apprehensively.

"Hello? Niu?" A pause. "Yeah. I'm Bryan. Yeah. I am. What? No. I'm his boyfriend, yeah. Look-"

"I HATE YOU!"

Rei could hear Niu's screamed remark and it made him feel suddenly cold inside. "She hung up." Bryan commented uselessly. "So...did you tell them, or-?"

"Mariah phoned the office to get 'Martin's' number."

"Ah."

"I don't think she believed anything I told her though...she's convinced I'm seeing another woman and I'm just making up an excuse when I say I'm gay..." Bryan shook his head sadly.

"Oh Rei...I'm sorry..."

"I don't think I believe it myself..." Bryan looked puzzled.

"What, that you're gay?"

"No...I mean...this whole thing just hasn't sunk in yet..."

Bryan nodded, putting the phone on the floor and reaching out to pull Rei closer, laying an arm around his shoulders. "I mean what do I do now? What about Niu and Jin? If I leave Mariah...she'll stop me from seeing them! You heard Niu! She doesn't believe me! She's siding with her mother!"

"Cross that bridge when you come to it. Anyway, Niu'll see sense. She won't be able to avoid you for that long."

"But...she thinks I'm -lying-!"

"She'll get over it. You're her Dad. She loves you. And anyway, you didn't cheat on her in any way, so..." He sighed. "Phone her. Arrange to meet her for a coffee or something."

"She doesn't like coffee..."

"Hot chocolate then. Invite her round here if you want. Although maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea, all things considered..." Bryan shrugged, standing up. "Maybe it'd be a good idea to give her time to cool off. Or you could try talking to your son instead..."

Rei rubbed his forehead distractedly. "I could..."

"You could give it a day or two and then go back. Try and talk to them again." Bryan leaned down to kiss Rei's cheek. "I'm getting a shower, okay? If you want me, just yell." Rei nodded and watched the Russian stroll into the bathroom.

A sigh escaped his lips and he closed his eyes. He couldn't face it all...it was just too big to take in...

They all -knew-...

He started to cry softly, tucking himself up into a ball and pressing himself up against the sofa arm and back. It was all over. The lie was exposed. And when they finally realised he was telling the truth, everyone would find out...friends, in-laws, neighbours, people at work...and they would all be against him...Mariah and Niu and Jin all hated him, thought he was a liar...and it -hurt-...

He could imagine them all at home- Niu in her room, Jin in his, and Mariah...

He hadn't meant to hurt her...he didn't want her to be upset...

He sobbed harder, fingernails digging into his skin.

He'd thought he was doing the right thing. He'd thought keeping it a secret would be -better-... It -had- been better...it had been fine...he'd been happier with everything the way it was! But now that big elaborate web of lies had collapsed, and-

"Rei..."

"I never wanted to hurt them!" The Chinese choked out, grabbing Bryan and clinging to him. "They don't even know everything yet and I've hurt them so much-!" Reassuringly strong arms clamped around him, pinning him against a reassuringly warm chest. "How could I do this to them...they don't deserve this... What have I -done-, Bryan?"

"Calm down." Bryan's voice, harsh as it was, cut through the panicky thoughts and scrambled regrets. "Go back tomorrow, and explain everything. Don't let it turn into some kind of argument, just explain. Tell the truth. And if she still doesn't believe you then, then it's denial." Rei nodded. "She isn't going to want to hear that you're gay. So she'll try and ignore the fact, and she'll gloss over it and explain it away, but you have to tell her, at least. And not in the heat of the moment, but properly and calmly."

"I...I know..."

"Whatever happens, Rei, I'm here for you." Rei sniffed and tightened his hold on his lover.

"Will you...will you come with me tomorrow?"

"If that's what you want."

"It is..."

* * *

Next Chapter: Bryan becomes exhibit A, Rei gets slapped some more, and Mariah has a threat to make.

R&R please!


	5. Chapter 5

I know I promised this chapter would be longer...but I'm not sure it is. Sorry! I PROMISE the next one will be longer. And...um...from about now, Mariah turns into the hellish bitch-queen of the north, but (at first, anyway) she's not acting all that differently from a lot of women who find out their husbands have been having affairs ...

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Mariah asked stiffly when she opened the door to Rei the next morning. It was just turning eleven...Niu and Jin would be at school...and they could talk. Bryan had stayed in the car, with a magazine, a bar of chocolate and a promise that he would come in if Rei needed him. So Rei was alone, standing on the doorstep under the suspicious gaze of Mariah. "We...need to talk." He said firmly, hoping that the fortnight's worth of holidays he'd put in at work wouldn't see him hospitalised. She looked about angry enough to break his legs, that was for certain... 

"You'd better come in then." She moved aside and Rei walked into the house, feeling nervous. This was his house, his name on the deeds, and he still felt like some kind of creeping alien.

Mariah led him into the kitchen, her hair swept up into a pink ponytail that bobbed as she walked. She was wearing old clothes, no makeup...very unlike her. She looked like she'd been crying as well. And Rei felt guilt eat into him again. "Mariah..." His hand came to rest on her arm, but she moved away.

"Don't touch me, Rei."

"Mariah..." He began, heart hammering. "I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you-"

"What, you sleep with some tart behind my back and then you run away and you say you didn't mean to hurt me?"

"He's not a tart!" Mariah's fists clenched at her sides.

"Just STOP, okay? I don't want to know who it is. Just admit it, Rei. Stop making things up and trying to protect her, whoever she is..."

"Mariah...I'm not making things up. There's no woman."

"Rei-"

"Look, I'm not lying. I realised I was gay when I was fifteen. And then not so long after you got pregnant- we were drunk, I didn't know what I was doing...and I wasn't going to abandon you if you were having my child. And I couldn't tell you...and it went on and on, and-"

"You slept with me! How can you be gay?" Replied Mariah, scornful and disbelieving.

"Mariah...I hated sleeping with you! But I couldn't -not- do it! Because it was getting to the point where if I came out and told you, it would be too late. And I would have to give you a reason why I'd kept it a secret for so long...and I didn't -have- one, Mariah."

"No..."

"Mariah..." She shook her head, stubborn. "I saw other men. But they were all one night stands, they were easy to hide..."

"Stop it!" Mariah shouted. "Just stop!"

"No! I'm trying to tell you the truth, the least you can do is listen!" Mariah turned away from him, and he sighed. "I never told you, and I never told Niu and Jin. Because I wanted you all to be happy. You're my family. If people found out...if I left... I...I just wanted you all to be safe...and it was okay to lie, because I was protecting you from finding out, I was stopping you from losing what you thought you'd always had..."

"Rei..."

"But this time...with Bryan...I love him, Mariah...and it's serious between us..."

"No! Shut up! I-I don't believe you!"

"Why not?" Rei challenged, as Mariah leaned against the heavy marble counter for support.

"You can't have lied to me for twelve years...you can't..." Rei could hear the sob in her voice. "Are you saying our marriage has been a sham from the start? Because I can't believe that, Rei! And I won't believe it!"

"Mariah..."

"Just stop it, stop all this lying and pretending-"

"I've spent the last twelve years pretending, Mariah! And now you know about everything I don't have to go on pretending!" With a cry of rage, Mariah raised a hand and slapped him, leaving a red mark in her wake. "I'm. Not. Lying." Mariah raised her hand again and he grabbed it, pushing it away. "Look, do you have to meet him before you'll believe me? He's in the car outside, if that's what it takes to convince you!"

* * *

Apprehensively, Rei knocked on the car window. Bryan appeared from behind his magazine, looking puzzled for a second, then realising who it was. "She...still doesn't believe me..." 

"Oh. Shall I be exhibit A, then?" His joke went unappreciated- Rei was too worried to pay much attention to what he was saying. He led Bryan to the door, looked at him apologetically, and took him inside. Mariah was sitting on the kitchen table by now, wiping her eyes with her shirt sleeve. "Mariah..."

"Who're you?" She asked faintly, evidently praying he wouldn't confirm what Rei intended him to.

"Well...I'm Steve from the pub, Martin with the awful girlfriend, Rei's boss needing work done again, and Carlos who needs a bit of help doing up his house." He said slowly, citing a few of the made-up people Rei has used as a pretence for leaving the house. "But I'm actually Bryan."

Mariah looked at him and then burst into noisy tears, bringing her knees up to her chest and burying her face in them. "Mariah..." Rei began.

"Twelve years!" She cut across him. "I've been faithful to you for twelve years! And it was all just a big lie?"

"Mariah...I never meant to hurt you-"

"Is that another LIE, Rei?"

"No! I was just trying to do what was best for you and-"

"SHUT UP!" Her yell was deafening, and it made Rei step back fearfully. "Just...shut up..."

"Mariah..."

"Don't talk to me..." Rei moved closer, reaching out for her shoulder. She slapped his hand away furiously.

"Mariah...Rei didn't-"

"I don't want you to talk to me either!" Mariah screamed over Bryan. "Just get out! GET OUT!" She sobbed, hiding her face in her hands. "Don't ever come near me again, Rei...don't come near me, or Niu, or Jin!"

"Mariah-"

"If you speak to me or them ever again..." Mariah stood finally, and even though she was the shortest person in the room she seemed to tower. "I'm going to take you to court and make sure they put you away!"

"You can't do that!" Rei shouted back. Bryan grabbed his shoulder as he made to move forward. "You can't stop me from seeing them!"

"Yes I FUCKING can! If you can lie to me for twelve years and sleep with -men- behind my back then I can stop you from -ever- seeing the kids again! Now get out! And don't come back!"

"Mariah-"

"Rei, come on. Leave it." Bryan said quietly, holding Rei's arm tightly.

"You can't take them away from me!" He hissed. "They're my kids as well as yours and you can't just shut me out of their lives!"

"I can and I'm going to! Besides, what kind of example are you and your loverboy going to be to them anyway you dirty gay bitch?" Mariah sneered back.

"You-"

"Rei, Stop it! Just leave it!" Bryan ordered, pulling Rei forcibly towards the door. Mariah watched them leaving from the kitchen window, and Rei could feel her eyes cutting into him as they sped away.

* * *

Next Chapter: Ooze-burgers, Captain Bryan and A&E 

R&R, please? It makes me happy. And it makes me feel warm and fuzzy so my fingers type faster...really!


	6. Chapter 6

Ah, kept my promise- this one is most definitely longer than the last one! Happy reading!

* * *

Rei spent the next several hours sitting curled up on Bryan's sofa, staring at the wall. The Russian made him coffee, made him hot chocolate, offered him biscuits and chocolate...everything he knew Rei liked to eat. The Chinese refused to eat it. He stroked Rei's hair, and he was ignored. He spoke to him, and Rei just kept staring straight ahead.

After a while he gave up, dragging his typewriter into the sitting room and settling himself on the floor in front of Rei. "When you want to talk," He said gently. "I'm here."

About an hour after that, Rei got up to go to the toilet. And then he was back again, staring at the wall, that blank, horrible expression on his normally beautiful face. "She doesn't mean it, you know. She's just angry. She's hurt and she wants to lash out at you in any way she can...and she knows that's the way that'll hurt the most." No response. "Why don't you phone them? I mean...you should explain to them yourself, because her version of what happened will be exaggerated...bits of it she'll miss out, or make up..." He sighed. "Children need to be told what's going on. Speaking from experience, of course. ...It's no good hiding things from them and lying to them..." Sighing, he went back to his latest chapter.

"Even if I did phone them..." Rei replied a minute or so later. "What would I say? 'Sorry kids, I'm gay and your mother won't let me see you any more'?"

"You could try telling them why everything's happened like this. Why you've never told them before. Why their mother is so upset."

"They won't listen. You heard Niu. She hates me."

"No, she said she hated me, and that I can understand. Look, give me your mobile."

"Why?"

"Just give me it. Trust me." Rei handed it over, doubtful. "Menu...Phonebook...Niu. Right..." He muttered, holding the phone to his ear.

"Dad?"

"Nope. Don't hang up!" He commanded, before she had a chance to. "Look, you and your Dad need to talk, okay?"

"About -what-? I don't want to talk to him about anything!"

"And why is that?"

"Because he cheated on Mum! With -you-!"

"Yeah, so he did. But he's gay. Why don't you take a second to think how hard it's been for him, having to live a lie all these years?" Silence. "Like I said, you need to talk, you and him and your brother. There's a fast food place down the road from your house, isn't there?"

"...Yeah..."

"Meet him there in half an hour?"

"If he wants to talk to us, why isn't he phoning me himself?"

"Because he thinks you hate him." Bryan paused to let that statement take effect. "Half an hour, then?"

"...I suppose..."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Rei was sitting at a wobbly table on an uncomfortable plastic chair. It was about six o clock, so it was quite busy...which by all accounts was a good thing. It meant Niu and Jin wouldn't notice Bryan, who had installed himself on a table at the other side of the room.

Rei sipped his horribly weak coffee and looked around at the garish pink and yellow decor. Hideous. And the food was no better. He could see people chomping on burgers that literally oozed grease, and it made him feel ill.

And then the door opened. "Niu! Jin!" People turned to stare at him as he opened his arms, grabbing his children and hugging them tightly. "Are you two alright?"

"We're fine, Dad..." Rei found himself choked up with emotion.

"Good." He whispered. "I'm glad..." He sniffed. "I didn't think you'd come..." He confessed, letting go.

"We wanted to hear what you have to say for yourself." Niu said, sitting down. Jin and Rei followed her lead, and there was a short, awkward silence.

"Is there...anything in particular you want to ask me?" Rei offered. Shrugs all round. "Look...I'm sorry I've never told you before. About...things. But I never told you mother either..." He sighed. "Shall I tell you the whole story?"

"Yeah." Jin said solemnly. Rei took a deep breath, trying to marshal his thoughts and put them together in a child-friendly way.

"Well...when I was fifteen...I knew I was gay. But I kept it quiet and I didn't tell anyone, and then...when I was sixteen, I was at a party at someone's house. And I was drunk. And I...slept with a girl. And...that was your mother. And she got pregnant...with you, Niu...so..." Rei sighed heavily. "I married her. Because that was the right thing to do- I wasn't going to abandon her if she was having my child. But I never told her about being...gay. Because at first there were a lot of problems during her pregnancy, and I didn't want to worry her or upset her...and then as time went on, it got harder and harder to think of a way to tell her...until it got to the point where I just couldn't do it. Are you with me?" Nod, nod. "But because I'd never told her, I couldn't let her find out because then she would know I'd never had the guts to tell her, do you follow me? And so I pretended that I was just any other normal guy with a wife and a baby daughter. And then we had you, Jin, and it got even harder.

"I'd considered breaking it to her, but at that point I had two children and I couldn't leave you both...because I loved you and I wanted to keep you safe. But I was going crazy from having to pretend all the time, so I...started seeing men. If you know what I mean. And that made it better. It balanced everything out again, and the pretending was okay because then I had the reward of being able to cut loose and be myself at weekends and stuff. But that didn't last. I went through cycles of it, of being a reckless tart and a depressed, worried husband. And that was going on until a few months ago...when I met Bryan."

Rei blushed at the memory of that night. Meeting at someone's house, lots of single gay guys all looking to have some fun... Rei remembered having incredible amounts of fun with a certain lavender-haired Russian...and then calling him the next day and asking to meet up for more. And that lavender-haired Russian asking if he wanted a relationship, and Rei explaining his situation, and the lavender-haired Russian saying 'I don't mind about any of that'.

"And I was out more and more seeing Bryan after that, because...I...I love him. And I was happy and I felt...right. He makes me feel right. And I...well, with the amount of time I was spending out of the house, your mother noticed that there was something wrong. But she assumed I was seeing another woman, and so I had to lie to her again and make up more excuses...and she found out about the excuses and everything just...well, now we've come to where we are now. And your mother knows everything about me being gay, and...about Bryan. I kind of had to introduce them before she'd believe me...but..." He looked down at the table, unable to look at Niu and Jin any more. "At least now you know."

"If you're not living with Mum and us any more...when are we going to see you?" Rei's head shot up, jerking his braid behind it.

"You...um...I..." He blinked, recovering quickly. "Evenings, maybe? Weekends? But...your mother..."

"She said we're not allowed to see you." Jin put in.

"But you still came-?" Rei felt tears fill his eyes. He sniffed, holding out his hands and grasping theirs over the tabletop. "I love you two. Do you know that? I love you so much..." Niu looked down at their joined hands.

"As much as you love Bryan?"

"That's a different kind of love. You two are my flesh and blood, and he's my boyfriend..." Beep beep. Niu produced her mobile and looked at it briefly.

"It's Mum. She wants to know where we've gotten to. We said we were going to the corner shop for sweets..."

"You'd better get back, then. Tell her the queue was long or something..." They stood up. "I don't know when I'll see you two again, not in the very near future anyway...but if you need me you've always got my mobile number, okay? Call me any time."

"Okay Dad." Niu stretched up and hugged him, then Jin did the same. "See you later."

Rei watched them go, smiling sadly. At least they didn't hate him.

A hand closed over his shoulder and he looked up to find Bryan hovering behind him. "Come on, we'd better get home. No use sitting around in this dump..."

* * *

"Rei..." Rei was dozing on the sofa hours later when Bryan shook him awake gently. "Rei, your mobile's ringing..."

"What?"

"Niu's phoning you..." Rei sat up, blinking around at the dim room. Then what Bryan had said sunk in and he scrabbled for his phone. 'Calling: Niu' Flashed on the screen. He clicked and held it to his ear. "Niu? Is everything okay?"

"Dad! It's Mum! I don't know what to do! She's locked herself in the bathroom and I...she won't answer me and I'm -scared-, Dad!"

"Right...I'll come over...I'll be there as soon as I can, Niu..." He rang off, standing up and grabbing his car keys. "It's Mariah, Bryan...she's locked herself in the bathroom and she isn't saying anything...oh God this is all my fault..."

"Give me the keys. I'll drive."

"What? Why?"

"Because you're in a state, and you'll end up in a ditch somewhere. Come on." Rei reluctantly handed over the keys and they descended the stairs of the apartment block to the car park outside.

* * *

"Dad!" Niu was at the door as they arrived. "We've tried to break the door down but it won't budge...I think she's put something behind it!"

"Right. It's okay Niu, I'm here now, I'll sort it all out." He assured, not feeling as if what he was saying was at all possible. But Bryan seemed to appear beside him and zoomed into action like some kind of superhero. "Rei, you go and talk to her, see if you can provoke a reply. I'm going to try and get into the bathroom through a window. Which is the nearest one to the bathroom?"

"Um...Jin's room...but he's being all funny...he's hiding..."

"Which one's his?"

"Left as you go up the stairs."

"Okay."

And Captain Bryan shot into the house, charging up the stairs. Rei watched him go then followed at a sprint, up to the bathroom door. "Mariah? Mariah, are you in there?"

"I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

"Mariah you're terrifying the kids! Come out!" Rei cried, trying to shove the door open, to no avail.

"I'm not coming out...I'm never coming out...you and that -bitch- can have the kids!" Niu gasped and backed away slightly, and Rei fumed.

"What the hell are you saying?" An almighty creak and a hissed scream from Mariah.

"YOU!"

"Take it easy, Mariah...I'm not here to hurt you, okay?" Bryan's voice was low and coaxing. "It's okay...look, just give it here... No, no, it's okay...think about what you're doing...come on...calm down..." Mariah started to sob. "Hey, think about your kids...Niu, and Jin...if you kill yourself, how do you think that'll make them feel? You're their mother...they depend on you...can you remember when they were just babies, just little newborns and they needed you for everything? They still need you now, Mariah..."

"Twelve -years-..." Mariah's voice came back, small and weak. "T-Twelve years of my life has been a complete -lie-! He never wanted children with me! He hated me!"

"He never hated you, Mariah...he loved you, just not in the same way you loved him...but it's all going to be fine, because you're going to give me that razor and when you walk out of the door he'll be there and your kids'll be there and everything will be okay..." Shuffling. "There...whoa, calm down. I'm just putting it out of your way, just in case you change your mind. Now come on, lets move this cabinet-" Desolate sobbing from Mariah. "Hey, come here..." The sound of something being shoved, and the door seemed to relax on it's hinges. The click of the bolt in the lock, and...

"Bryan..." The Russian appeared, Mariah held against him with one arm. Then he swallowed, smiling strangely.

"My first foster mother...yeah. That was her health problem. A kitchen knife and a bath. I couldn't... Look, just..."

"Mum!" Jin was suddenly among them, grabbing hold of his mother with a grip of steel. "Mum..."

"Jin..." She sobbed, face shining with tears. "Jin...Niu?"

"I'm here..."

"Niu..."

Rei watched the three of them, a lump in his throat. This was all his fault. If he hadn't lied to her... "She needs to see a doctor or a psychiatrist or something..." Bryan muttered to him. "Phone for one now while she's still a bit confused..."

* * *

"Dad?"

"They're keeping her in for the time being..." Rei replied, exhausted. "Come on, I'll take you home..." He yawned, practically dead on his feet. "Actually...no, we came in the ambulance, didn't we? No car..." He sighed, sitting down on one of the chairs and closing his eyes. "I'll have to ring Bryan..."

"Dad, you're falling asleep...give me the phone..." He obliged, slumping into the seat further.

"Dad's falling asleep in A and E, we need a lift home. He was going to phone you but he's too tired. Right." Rei nodded.

"See? He's lovely. Obliging. And pretty as well..."

* * *

"Mm?" The next thing Rei was aware of was being carried by a pair of strong arms. "Bryan?"

"Yep. Just dropping you and the kids off. I'll...go home for tonight, let you look after your kids..."

"No." Rei protested, grabbing Bryan's front in a weak grip. "Don't go..."

"I...don't think Niu and Jin are going to appreciate me moving into their mother's place, Rei..."

"Don't go..." Rei repeated, plaintive.

"Look...here, Rei, bed." The Chinese was vaguely aware of being laid onto something soft.

"Don't go home...stay...stay with me..." He begged. Bryan sighed.

"Okay, I'll stay. But only for tonight, and I'm sleeping on the sofa."

"Then I am too!" Rei protested, sitting up. "I don't want to be alone...not now..."

"Rei...I..."

"Dad?" The door swung open and Rei fought to keep his eyes open. "Oh."

"No, look, I'm sleeping downstairs, this isn't-"

"Why?" Niu replied.

"Why what?"

"Why are you leaving him on his own up here if you and him are so -together-?" Bryan looked at her carefully.

"You wouldn't mind me sleeping in here?"

"I don't care if you do or your don't." Bryan looked at her, unsure if she actually meant what she was saying, In the end, he decided she did. And if she didn't, well...

"Okay then. Thanks." He looked down at Rei, who was now fast asleep and snoring. "Um. I guess it's not much use asking him anything right now. Er...can I help?"

"Not unless you can stop Jin being all weird. He's gone all babyish on me." Her voice was harsh, forcedly so, and Bryan could see she was almost at the point of being babyish herself...

"About your mum, right?" Tucking the blankets up around Rei, he sighed. No Rei, and no Mariah. So that made him the responsible adult around the place... "Well, I can try talking to him."

* * *

"Hey Jin." The heap of bedclothes on the bed wriggled. "You want to talk?"

"Not to you!"

"...Okay." Bryan sat back, wondering what to say next. "I used to have a blue bedroom." He tried.

"So?"

"Just saying, I used to have a blue bedroom. Yours is nicer though." And-? "Did your parents buy you all this stuff?"

"'Course they did. Parents always buy you stuff." Well. Maybe so.

"I never had parents. Well, I had them, but they gave me away when I was little. So I wouldn't know."

"Why?" The bedclothes grew a head. Bryan shrugged. "I bet you're lying."

"Nope. I'm not. That's why I said I used to have a blue bedroom. I had one when I was in foster care one time."

"Did you move then?"

"Yeah, I had to go to another family." Jin looked puzzled. "Oh...no, they never moved, just me. My...foster mother...she died, you see."

"Mum nearly died before."

"I know."

Awkward silence, and then... "But you stopped her."

"If your father didn't dither so much he would have as well." Bryan suddenly realised that he was slandering Rei in front of his son. "I mean, uh..." He tried to think of some way of backtracking, but Jin spoke.

"He does dither!" He giggled. "And he sings in the shower!"

"Really?" Bryan snorted. "Doesn't surprise me."

"...Are you really his...boyfriend?" Jin asked, blushing as if what he'd said was rude.

"Yeah."

"Do you -kiss- him?"

"Yeah." Jin giggled and pushed his blankets away.

"Kissing is so gross!"

"Uh...yeah..." Bryan said, humouring Jin as best he could. Because of course, kissing Rei was not gross. Kissing Rei was -hot-. Clearing his throat, he looked over at the clock. Eleven. Surely Jin should be in bed by now? "It's...time you were in bed." He tried, half-hearted.

"But Mum isn't here to tuck me in!" Jin protested. Bryan sighed and ruffled his mop of dark hair.

"Well she isn't here and your Dad isn't awake, so I'll have to do. Come on, straighten out your blankets a bit...yeah, that'll do." When Jin was under the blankets, Bryan ruffled his hair again and walked to the door. "Night Jin." Click, and off with the light, click, and shut the door.

"Niu?" She appeared, mobile in hand. "You might want to...get to bed. You might need to be up in the morning to see your mother or something." She nodded, still not speaking. "Um. Night."

Bryan drifted into the bedroom feeling distinctly tired and found Rei curled up on one side, snoring. Smiling, Bryan stripped off his shirt and shoes and joined him.

* * *

Next chapter: Bryan wonders about inappropriate jokes, Mariah induces a slight crisis, and violence comes in the form of vengeful in-laws.

R&R...please?


	7. Chapter 7

Another chapter! Wheesh, they just keep on coming, don't they? However, I believe the next one will be the last, yesyes. I hope you enjoy reading this one!

* * *

Rei woke up in the morning and for a second nothing seemed to make sense...if he was in bed at home, then why was Bryan with him? But it hit him soon, and he collapsed back onto the pillows, sighing. "What's the matter?" Bryan muttered, shifting slightly.

"Everything."

"Alright." Before very long, Bryan was snoring again. Rei watched him, a smile slowly creeping onto his face. He was so busy watching that he didn't see Niu and Jin come into the room...

"When's visiting hours?"

"Ah-!" Recovering from the shock, Rei sat up. "Um...two till four...I think..."

"It's only ten o clock..."

"Um. Yeah. Do you two need breakfast making? I know your mother usually cooks it but you know what I'm like when it comes to cooking..."

"...I can cook." Bryan muttered, face buried in the blankets. Rei looked up at Niu and Jin uncertainly, and read their blank expressions to mean that they didn't particularly like Bryan being there. "But they probably don't want me cooking..."

"We are here, you know." Said Niu acidly, folding her arms. Bryan sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of one hand.

"So you are. Still true though."

"I don't mind you cooking. Niu and Dad can't cook." Jin smiled at him hopefully. "Can you make pancakes?"

"Shut up, Jin. Just because he put you to bed doesn't mean he's your new best friend." Bryan sighed. Feh. Kids.

"I -can- make pancakes. But apparently Niu doesn't want me to. So I'm going back to sleep. Goodnight." He flopped back down again, stealing the last of the blanket from Rei.

Jin gave his sister a dirty look. "Niu, I'm -hungry-!"

"Yeah well! If -he- wasn't with Dad Mum would be here to cook for you!"

"Niu..." Rei began, getting up finally. "You can't blame this on Bryan...if you blame anyone it should be me. I told you everything last night. And...if I'd been honest with your mother from the start we wouldn't be where we are now." He explained, taking hold of her arm gently. "His pancakes really are good, you know." He tried, smiling. Niu snorted and flounced to the door.

"Well why don't you and Jin eat them then? Because I don't want any!"

* * *

Bryan ended up making pancakes for himself and Jin. So that left Niu sulking at the other side of the kitchen and Rei sipping boiling coffee and feeling as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. And he was still half asleep. The whole thing seemed to have exhausted him, meaning Bryan was left trying his hardest to understand and interact with Jin. It had been so many years since he'd had to be around children...and it wasn't as if he had a normal childhood to go by in the first place...

But he persevered, desperately dredging up the five or so clean jokes he knew. All the rest were dirty or used bad language, and he knew that by no stretch of the imagination was it appropriate for him to tell Jin jokes about bitches, whores or strippers. And blonde jokes might be a stretch too far as well... He was just trying the one about the shark-infested custard when Niu stood up, glowering. "Stop it!"

"Niu?" Rei looked up, feeling an argument in the air.

"Stop being so HAPPY! Mum's in hospital and it's -your- fault!" She yelled at Bryan. The Russian blinked.

"Do you think she'd particularly want you to mope around being depressed? And since when did it become -my- fault?"

"Because you took Dad away from her!" Niu screeched back.

"Niu-" Rei stood up, anxious.

"So what, you'd rather your dad drove himself insane from having to lie for the rest of his life? And if it wasn't for me your mother would be -dead- now. She might be in hospital but at least she's alive!" Bryan snapped back. He was aware that it wasn't done to shout at children, but it was a subject that was lodged firmly in his heart and no-one would keep him quiet about it.

"Oh! I HATE you!" Niu hollered. "I'm going round Ashley's, I'm not staying in the same house as YOU!"

Rei took hold of her arm as she stormed past him. "Niu, you're not going -anywhere-. Now come out here, I want a word with you." Bryan watched the Chinese lead his daughter out of the room, sighing.

"I'm never going to understand kids or women. And she's both..."

"She's just moody." Jin supplied, pouring golden syrup all over his last pancake. Bryan nodded, dipping a finger in the pot and taking a fingerful. "Mum doesn't let us eat out of the pot..."

"You shouldn't. It's a terrible habit really." He sighed. "Do you think she really hates me?"

"Don't know." Bryan sighed.

"If she doesn't want me around, I can't stay. But I want to stay with your father..."

"...What about Mum?"

"...I don't know. I really don't know."

* * *

"Niu? Jin?" Rei peeped around the door as his children ran in to see Mariah, leaping up onto the bed beside her and hugging her tightly. "Oh...are you two alright?"

"Yeah, Mum, we're fine." She hugged them closer, looking haggard and anxious.

"Who looked after you last night?"

"Dad and B-"

"Dad did, Mum." Niu cut across her brother. Mariah closed her eyes tightly.

"Don't talk to me about your father..."

"But you -asked-, Mum..." Jin said quietly, timidly.

"You're not to see him again, do you hear me!"

"But who's going to look after us?" Jin's voice was a whisper now.

"I don't know!" Mariah snapped, letting go of him and sitting up straight. "Just stay away from him! He's a terrible man!"

"But...why?"

"Don't ask stupid questions! Just stay away from him!" Mariah yelled, tears running down her face. As Jin turned to look to the door, Rei could see tears in his eyes.

"Jin, shut -up-..." Niu hissed at him, grabbing her mother's hand and squeezing it tightly. "It's okay Mum, we will. It's alright."

"But Niu..." Jin tried, obviously not possessing Niu's tact. "Dad and Bryan-"

SLAP! The harsh noise of skin hitting skin rang into the air.

The next few seconds felt like forever. Jin recoiled, scrambling up off the bed as his mother glared, panting. Niu screamed, watching in horror and-

"HEY!" Bryan barged past Rei and into the ward, furious. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?"

"YOU! GET OUT!" Mariah seemed to descend into a mad rage, shooting to her feet and lunging forwards. Bryan moved out of her way, shooing Jin towards Rei. "There is something -wrong- with you!" He hissed. "No parent should ever- EVER- hit their children. Not like that!"

"Something wrong with me! Something WRONG? TWELVE YEARS!" Mariah screamed, red in the face. "Twelve fucking -years-..." She fell to her knees, sobbing.

"Mum!" Niu was on the floor with her, but Mariah didn't respond, just slumped further to the floor, wailing. There was mass confusion after that.

Jin stood and cried, Niu screeched at Bryan, Bryan tried to get Mariah back to her feet and Rei ran for a nurse.

* * *

"Nervous breakdown." Rei said, much later, as he went to find Bryan, Jin and Niu from the cafe. "They said she'll be...in for quite a long time. It'll take a lot of getting over." Jin sniffed.

"Is that why she hit me?"

"Jin...Mum's ill, you know that. Ill in her mind. She didn't mean to hit you." Rei replied gently.

"It's all your fault!" Niu hissed, glaring at Bryan.

"Niu-"

"Don't bother, Rei." Bryan turned his face away, sniffing. "I don't need to justify myself to a temperamental little girl. And if she thinks that it's okay for parents to hit their children then I hope to God she never has any."

"Oh what do -you- know?" Niu sneered back. Bryan's eyes narrowed to slits. Rei grabbed his lover's hand and spoke before the Russian had the chance to.

"Niu, stop it. Right now." Bryan folded his arms.

"I should go." He said darkly, voice icy. Rei sighed inwardly, wondering how to make peace between the two of them.

"Niu, shut up and stop being so horrible! Jin cried suddenly.

"What?"

"You wouldn't act like this if Mum hit -you-! You're being an idiot!" Niu blinked at her younger brother, then glared.

"Mum's in hospital because of -him- and you don't even care! None of you do!" She cried. "You're so selfish!"

"Niu..." Rei said gently, reaching out a hand towards her.

"You don't care!" Niu replied, bursting into noisy tears. Bryan and Jin shared an uneasy look as Rei pulled Niu up onto his knee, hugging her tightly.

"Shh, hey...calm down, it'll be alright...and I -do- care, Niu...I...never meant for everything to turn out like this..." Niu snivelled and clung to him.

"It's not fair! You just ran off with -him- and you never gave any of us a second thought!"

"Niu, that's ridiculous. I wouldn't have left home if your mother hadn't thrown me out. How can you think I didn't think about you two when I left?"

"But...but she said..."

"What did she say?" Asked Rei, feeling slightly fearful. What had Mariah been saying? Was that why Niu seemed to dislike Bryan so much? What kind of lies and poison had Mariah been spreading?

"She said you said that...that -he- didn't want you to see us..." Rei blinked, looking over Niu's head at Bryan. The Russian had gone pale, paler than usual.

"That's a complete -lie-." He said vehemently. "I would never, -never- say something like that. And do you really think -anyone- could stop your Dad from seeing you two?"

"But...Mum said..." Niu's voice was barely a whisper. Jin looked puzzled.

"She never said it to me..."

"She told me you were too young to know, and she was only telling me because I was old enough to understand..." Niu looked up, hurt clear in her eyes. "She -lied- to me!"

"Niu, she's -ill-." Bryan reminded her. Very ill, apparently...

"So...so you never said..."

"No."

Niu sniffled and snuggled herself under Rei's chin. "Will she be okay, Dad?" Rei sighed.

"Of course she will. It might take a while, but she'll get all the help she needs here." He assured. "Don't worry, from now on everything is going to get better."

* * *

However, later that night Rei was to learn that things were going to get worse before they got better. They were all sitting in the living room, Jin almost asleep in the armchair, Rei and Bryan curled up on the sofa, and Niu watching the TV while playing games on her mobile. Through the dim chatter of the TV, they talked, joked, laughed...and then the doorbell rang.

Rei got up to answer it, pulling himself out of Bryan's tight embrace and shuffling out into the cold, empty hall. The bell ran again, impatiently. "Yeah, I'm coming." Upon opening the door, Rei found a fist flying towards his face. It impacted, sending him to the floor in a haze of pain and with a yell of confusion. "You SHIT! You traitorous little SHIT!"

"Uncle Lee!" And so it was- Lee, Mariah's half-crazed and violent brother...

"Go back in the living room, Niu, I'm having a talk with your father!" Rei sat up, clutching his nose, and sighed.

"Lee..." He was rewarded with a kick to the ribs, which made him fall back, gasping with pain.

"I'll teach you to fuck my sister about like that, you cheating little FUCK!"

"No you won't." A hard, cold voice rang around the room.

"Oh, and I suppose this is your little toyboy, Rei? Well I'll teach him a fucking lesson as well!" Rei sat again, clutching his ribs and his nose, and saw that Bryan was standing, tensed.

"You shouldn't swear so much around children. Niu, Jin...go back in there and shut the door, please." The two children obeyed his ominous voice instantly. "Now why don't we sit down and have a chat?"

"Have a chat? Have a fucking chat? I've only got one thing to say to you, one word, and it's FILTH! Because that's what you both are!" Lee lunged for Rei again, just as he got to his feet. But somehow Bryan was in front of him, shoving Lee away easily.

"Are you going to calm down, or am I going to have to hurt you? Because I can, and I will."

"What the fuck are -you- going to do to me, pretty boy?"

"Telling you would spoil the surprise." Bryan's eyes were narrowed, his face creased into a glare that made Rei feel weak inside.

"How the fuck could you -do- that to her?" Lee growled, turning his back on Bryan and glaring at Rei. "After twelve years, just up and run off with another guy..."

"Lee, I never meant to hurt her-"

"Like FUCK you didn't! If you didn't mean to hurt her she wouldn't be in hospital!"

Lee swung for him again, fist arcing through the air like a comet. However, it didn't connect, and Lee ended up on the floor with Bryan standing over him. "Get out. Get out of here right now or I'm going to throw you out and rearrange your face for you to teach you a lesson!" Bryan's voice was a hiss, an angry, raging hiss that chilled Rei to his bones. Was this what Bryan had been like?

Lee glared, then shot to his feet, going for Bryan. But Bryan wasn't there...Bryan was behind him, grabbing him by the neck and marching him to the door, forcing him outside. There was a sick crunching noise and a cry and Bryan came back inside, a wild, mad expression on his face. "Bryan-"

"Are you okay? Because I swear, if he did anything permanent I'm going back out there and-"

"I'm fine...Bryan, what did you-"

"Broke his nose." Bryan's fists clenched. "I really wanted to do that." He closed his eyes, face grim. "I haven't felt like that in a long time."

"I'm sorry...it's all my fault..."

Bryan shook his head, sighing. "It isn't. But if he ever touches you again...I'll kill him."

"You mean that, don't you?"

"Yeah. I do. Look, Rei...you know about me. You know what I was. And just because I'm not that bad any more...there are days when I want to hurt everyone and everything. And I still remember how to do that. You learn things, when you live like I did. How to kill someone with one punch, how to knock them out with nothing but a finger, how to manipulate people..."

"Dad!" The living room door flew open and Niu ran out, Jin not far behind her. "Uncle Lee's at the window!" Bryan snarled, eyes narrowing again, but before he could open the door Jin threw his arms around his waist, sobbing.

"I'm scared!" Bryan looked down, his face softening. "Stop fighting!" The Russian looked over at Rei, helpless, then settled for patting Jin's head awkwardly.

"Alright. Um. I won't fight him."

There was a loud hammering on the door. "You! Open up!" Bryan glared and fumed, and Rei could tell that he was in two minds whether or not to just go out there and finish Lee completely or not. But as he opened the door, reason seemed to win; the Russian just glared, one hand still holding onto Jin.

"Look, you're scaring the kids." He growled, voice low and threatening. "So why don't you just-" He put his hands quickly over Jin's ears. "Fuck off? If you don't, I'm calling the police. Or I might come out and take your face off. It's your choice. But have a word with yourself first. Are you particularly wanting to terrify Mariah's kids? No? Then go away." He shut the door in Lee's face and turned, trying and failing to peel Jin away from him.

Rei wiped his nose with the back of one hand, sighing. Another thing to add to the growing pile of misfortunes. "Come on, Jin, time for bed. And you need to be thinking about getting there as well, Niu..." He said resignedly. Jin held onto Bryan a little tighter.

"Don't want to go to bed. Uncle Lee'll come back."

"I don't either..." Niu added, grabbing her dad's arm. "I hate him!"

"No you don't, Niu..."

"He hit you in the face right in front of me! I hate him!" She insisted. Rei wiped his nose again with his free hand and shook his head.

"Upstairs, then. I need to clean my face up..."

* * *

"Ow." Rei protested lightly as Bryan wiped his face with a flannel.

"Don't be a baby, it isn't broken..." Jin giggled at this. Bryan seemed to have become his new idol, and everything he said was either taken on board and held as timeless wisdom or giggled at because if Bryan said it it was evidently incredibly witty. Niu, on the other hand, seemed only to be tolerating him. But still, that worked, for the moment.

After several hours of coaxing, Jin went to bed and so did Niu, leaving Rei and Bryan to crawl to bed themselves, exhausted. Lee hadn't been back, but they both knew he wouldn't let the situation lie. "Jin likes you." Commented the Chinese at length.

"Mm. Don't know why, though. Half the time I feel like he's ten steps ahead of me anyway, and I can never think what to say to him...and Niu's even more difficult, I mean...I've -never- been able to make sense of women..." Rei laughed out loud at this, snuggling up next to Bryan's chest.

"I don't understand kids or women either, you know. I've just had a lot more practice with them than you."

"Sounds about right." Bryan yawned, holding Rei closer. "They seem to be taking the whole 'Dad with another bloke' thing well..."

"Yeah, I know...so far...I mean...Jin's a little young to understand it all anyway, and he's certainly too young to be prejudiced about it...and Niu's always been open-minded enough..." Rei sighed. "I just feel so guilty, Bryan...I mean...Mariah did everything for them...they'll miss her like crazy...and when she gets out, who'll be looking after them then? And...if they're with her, they won't be able to see me...and if they're with me, they won't be able to see her! It seems so unfair to just take a parent away from them like that..."

"They'll get over it."

"That sounds so callous..."

"But it's true." The Chinese sighed again, closing his eyes.

"I suppose. Ah, I'm too tired to think about it any more. Night, Bryan..."

"Night."

* * *

LAST Chapter: Boggy fields, the truth, a broken DVD player...and a little bit of spontaneity.

R&R please! You don't know how squishy it makes me feel to get your reviews...


	8. Chapter 8

And so we are here, at the final chapter. I'll miss this fic. 'Tis the longest thing I've ever written (I suck at finishing long fics). So yah. If you're here and you're reading this, R&R please, even if you don't normally. I'd like to know what you guys think of this last chapter. So...without further ado, I give you...boggy fields, the truth, a broken DVD player, and a little bit of spontaneity. Happy reading!

* * *

At nine o clock the next morning, the phone beside Rei's head rang. Groggily, he reached for it and picked it up, scattering his wallet and his watch to the floor. "Hello?" 

"Mr. Kon?"

"Sp-" Rei desperately stifled a yawn. "Speaking..."

"It's about your wife, Mr. Kon. We're having to move her to a specialist hospital where she can get the right help for her condition. However...and we have to respect her wishes...she doesn't want you or her children to come and see her."

"Oh. Um. What about...when she gets out?"

"With the state she's currently in, she may never get out." A pang of guilt gripped Rei's stomach. "But she's made it clear that she doesn't want to have anything to do with you or anything that reminds her of you ever again. And that includes her children..." Hold on one second...was this woman saying what Rei thought she was?

"Wait, wait...do you mean she doesn't want to see Niu or Jin ever again...as in -ever-? She's abandoning them?"

"Mrs Kon is a very traumatised and ill woman. After being told her marriage had been nothing from the start...well I'm sure you can understand. She needs to start over and try and forget the memories of you and the life she shared with you." Rei gaped at the phone.

"Well great. Just great. I hope she enjoys staying in the loony bin, she deserves to be there!" He snapped, slamming the phone down.

And then he started to cry. Fat tears of anger and pity rolled down his cheeks, dripping off onto the bedcovers. Bryan shifted in his sleep, then opened his eyes. "Rei?"

"She's abandoning them Bryan...she never wants to see them again..." He sobbed, shaking.

"What?"

"The hospital just phoned...she doesn't want to have anything to do with me or anything she associates with me...she said she never wants to...she never wants to see them again!" Bryan sat up, wrapping his arms around Rei tightly. "It's all my fault!"

"No it isn't."

"It -is- Bryan! None of this would have happened if I'd just been honest from the start..."

"If you'd been honest from the start Niu and Jin wouldn't exist. Okay, maybe Niu would, but not Jin! And if you'd been honest from the start we would never have met!" Rei wailed like a child, feeling as if everything Lee and Mariah had called him was true. He was a traitor. He was a shit. He was filth. He was a dirty gay bitch. He didn't deserve to be alive...

"It's not your fault." Bryan repeated stubbornly over and over until Rei calmed down.

"Dad...what's wrong?" He looked up and realised that Niu and Jin were standing in the doorway, looking at him anxiously. "Is it about Mum?" Rei buried his face in Bryan's shoulder. How the hell were you supposed to tell your kids that their mother didn't want anything to do with them anymore?

"Look...come and sit down..." He said shakily. "Now...you two know how ill Mum is, right?" They nodded. "Well...she...her doctors have decided that she needs to move away...and that she shouldn't..." Tears threatened again and Bryan pulled him onto his lap, cuddling him close.

"Her doctors say she should have nothing to do with her family any more." He said hesitantly. "They called your Dad this morning to tell him." Niu stared at him.

"She's not allowed to see us any more?" Bryan nodded, face serious.

"She needs to start over if she's ever going to get better."

"But...she...she has to see us! She's our mum!" Niu replied, shock written all over her face. Jin looked hurt and puzzled.

"Why doesn't she want to see -us- though?"

"Because she's ill, Jin. Her mind...is all messed up. Maybe in a few years you'll be able to see her again and catch up, but until she's better and she's built herself up again she has to have some space..." Bryan tried to explain.

"Why doesn't she want us any more?"

"No-one said she didn't want us!" Niu turned and screeched at her brother. "She does want us! She's just ill!" She stood up, tears in her eyes. "She does want us..." And with that, she turned tail and ran, her ponytail flying out behind her. Jin crawled up to his father, leaning against him and cuddling him as well.

"It's not your fault...if she doesn't want to see us then we must have upset her. Maybe I shouldn't of said anything when we went to see her..."

"Jin..." Rei sat up, grabbing his son in a fierce embrace. "It's not your fault. It's not at all. But she's ill and she needs to recover on her own, away from me..."

"O-Okay, Dad..." Rei wiped his eyes, sniffing.

"Why don't you go and find your sister? I think she needs someone to talk to..." Jin obeyed, leaving Rei to sink against Bryan, letting all his breath out in one long rush. "Bryan...why are you still here?" Buried as he was in Bryan's chest, he didn't see the hurt look that passed across the Russian's face.

"If you want me to, I'll go..."

"No...I don't mean I want you to go anywhere...but why...why are you sticking around even though all this -crap- is happening?"

"A lot of reasons. For a start it's partly my fault. Then...well...I love you. Why would I abandon you if I love you? And if there's one thing being me has made me realise, it's that...you don't get that many chances to be happy. And if you just waste them then you end up a psycho. And while yes, your shirts are a little small for me, I can live with that. And Cherie'll kill me for not being ready with my next chapter, but I don't care about her and her blood pressure as much as I care about you and your happiness." Rei sniffed, looking up.

"I love you, you know that?"

"Love you too." Replied Bryan, lifting Rei's chin with a gentle hand and kissing him.

Rei closed his eyes, letting Bryan pull him closer, content to be in the Russian's arms. Bryan's kiss was as gentle as his touch, and Rei marvelled at how...beautiful it felt. It was more than just right, it made right look like a slap in the face. As he pulled away, smiling, he stroked Bryan's cheek. "This is better than right."

"Hm?"

"When...when Mariah used to kiss me, it felt wrong, all wrong, and then when I kissed you it made me feel right again...but that...that kiss just now...it made me feel better than right...it made me feel..."

"Perfect?" The Russian supplied. Rei nodded, and Bryan laughed, taking hold of his braid and dabbing at his nose with it. "I'm glad you felt that as well..."

Rei's smile turned into a smirk and he surged up, pinning Bryan to the bed and kissing him again. Perfect...so perfect...

"Dad!" Rei shot away from Bryan like a scalded cat. "Dad, Niu's gone!"

"WHAT?"

"I knocked on her door and she told me to go away, then I waited and I waited and I went in anyway and she wasn't there!" Jin wailed, looking lost and confused. Rei leapt to his feet and hurtled out onto the landing, flinging open Niu's door and looking around her room. The walls that she had painted black in a phase of rebellion were still covered with posters. Her Gameboy was still charging on her desk...

Her schoolbag was gone. And...

He looked in the wardrobe and found her two favourite pairs of jeans and kitten t-shirt missing. And her pink shirt and her jacket, and...

"Oh God...oh God..."

"Is she definitely gone?"

"Yes. Oh God...Bryan, what should I do? Call the police?"

"No. Call her mobile. Then call the police."

* * *

After a few hours confusion, they were no closer to finding Niu. Her mobile was off no matter how many times Rei called it, and even the police with all their 'technological expertise' couldn't find her. Rei was in pieces, and Jin was no better. 

Bryan, on the other hand, had an idea. Over the last few days he had gleaned information about Niu that no-one seemed to be considering. After all, Bryan had run away himself a few times. If you thought about it logically...she had no other parent to go to. They'd tried all of her friends' houses. They'd scoured the local shops and restaurants. So that only really left one viable place.

As far as Bryan could gather, the only thing that fit that bill was her art project. Which happened to be on the other side of town. And happened to mean a hell of a lot to her. It was the only place left that Bryan could think of.

Without saying anything to anyone, he sneaked Rei's car keys off the hall table and went out to the car, starting it up and driving away.

* * *

"Jin, can you go and find Bryan for me?" Rei asked tearfully, needing comfort and knowing that only being in Bryan's arms would make him feel any better. Not that feeling better was an easy thing to do when your daughter had run away from home, but...but he needed someone...someone other than stupid policemen offering him tea. He felt as if he might punch the next one who asked. 

It was such a helpless feeling, knowing that she could be out there, kidnapped, injured...even dead, and he could do nothing but sit around and wait for the police to update him on the situation...

"I can't find him, Dad." Rei sighed and pulled Jin up onto his knee, sobbing into his shoulder. Everyone seemed to be deserting him...everyone important was running away...

* * *

Ankle deep in sludge, Bryan wondered why the school had chosen this particular field for its project. It was nothing particularly special, to be certain. Boggy, yes, but interesting, no. But he could see Niu over at the far side, with her back to him. She was sitting on some kind of crate, staring at a gigantic wooden...thing. She was so absorbed in that that it was easy for Bryan to sneak up behind her. "Your father's worried about you, you know." 

She shrieked, shooting to her feet and turning, hair flicking out behind her. "It's you..."

"We've looked everywhere else, and no-one seemed to be thinking of here. So I came to have a look. I'm glad I did, now." Niu's only reply was a sniff. "Your Dad's going spare worrying about you. He's hysterical. He's convinced you've been murdered or raped."

"Yeah well."

"I know hearing about your Mum must hurt-"

"Don't even start! My friends have done that to me all day! 'Oh, I'm so sorry'! And they're not sorry, it's just something you say and no-one ever means it! So don't bother! It's not like your mother suddenly decided she didn't want you!"

At that, Bryan had to laugh. "I spent my life from the age of two in care, actually. So you aren't the only one whose mother decided to run away and leave them. The best bit is, mine wasn't even ill. She just couldn't be bothered to look after me any more." Niu stared at him. "Yeah. And for the record, in the hospital? I know plenty about parents hitting their children. Because I -was- one of those children." Niu stared at him a bit more, so Bryan kept talking, saying whatever came into his head. "That's why I would never say your Dad couldn't see you any more. Because when you grow up without any, you realise just how important parents are. And yeah, okay, you feel like crap right now, and you want to wallow in your misery and be sad but if you're going to do that, can you do it at home? Where we know you're safe?

"You might not think your mother cares about you, but your father does, and Jin does. I suppose I do as well, even though I barely know you and you half-hate me anyway." Niu sniffed and then burst into tears, running at him and throwing her arms around his neck.

"She's -Mum-! Even if they say she shouldn't see us she should still want to!"

"I know. I know. Come on, don't cry...I've never had to deal with a woman crying, I don't think I know what to do..." He said nervously, patting her back. She looked up at him and laughed.

"I'll go and cry on Dad, then..."

"Good idea. You can cry on him, and he can cry on you, and I can keep my shoulders dry..." Bryan replied, smiling hopefully. Niu nodded and led him back across the squidgy field and to the car.

* * *

Rei was so hysterical with fear and worry that he didn't hear the door open, and he didn't hear the uproar of all the police who were busy infesting his home and drinking his coffee. He didn't notice anything was different until a hand grabbed his shoulder. "Dad?" 

"Niu!" He looked up, hardly daring to believe it, and then shot to his feet, grabbing hold of her and sobbing into her hair. "Niu! Thank God you're okay! Where have you -been-? I've been so worried..."

"I just went out, Dad. I had to think..."

"We've looked everywhere! Where have you -been-?"

"At that disgusting boggy field where her art project is."

"Bryan! You-! I thought you'd -left-!" Rei cried, clamping Niu to his side with one arm and reaching the other out to Bryan, who instantly obliged him with a warm hug.

"Niu! You came back!" Jin dived into their midst, hugging his sister.

All of them apart from Bryan were crying again by that point, so he took it upon himself to chivvy them into the living room and sit them down. Then he started shooing the reporters and police out, none too kindly. And then he started clearing up the coffee cups. They needed some family time, he knew. Just to sit for a while and be themselves. That was really what they'd needed for a while. And he knew that it was none of his business to intrude.

He put the last of the dirty cups in the dishwasher and turned it on, sitting down at the kitchen table and resting his head on his hands. It was hard to believe, really, that in the space of so few days, so much had happened. If anyone had told him a month ago that he would be running around fields rescuing Rei's daughter he would have laughed at them. Mind you, a month ago he hadn't met Niu at all anyway...

"Bryan?" Niu appeared in the doorway, looking- for the first time since Bryan had met her- happy and contented. "Dad's falling asleep on the sofa."

"I'll...put him to bed. He needs it. He hasn't really been sleeping since this whole thing started, you know." He heaved himself up, stretching until his back clicked. "And of course there was the whole hysteria thing. He's worse than a woman when he gets going..." Niu giggled- truly giggled- and Bryan smiled back at her. "Lead me to sleeping beauty then..."

* * *

Rei was indeed asleep, arms tightly around Jin as he snoozed. "Rei..." The Chinese snuffled. "Rei?" 

"Uhhh?"

"I'm taking you to bed, Rei."

"Nh."

"Let go of Jin." Rei obliged, barely awake, and let Bryan pick him up, wriggling as he was slung over the Russian's shoulder. It was a good thing the Chinese wasn't overweight, Bryan supposed. He got the impression that he'd end up with no shoulders left if Rei was inclined to be chubby. That said, he certainly -felt- chubby, digging as he was into Bryan's skin. But in the end he got Rei upstairs and deposited him on his bed, where, of his own accord, the Chinese burrowed into the blankets and finally fell properly asleep. "Sweet dreams, Rei." He whispered.

His only reply was a snore.

* * *

The next morning Rei found himself woken by the phone again. Cursing colourfully he extricated himself from Bryan's tight hold, at which the Russian gave a soft moan and curled up on his side. Rei smiled at him fondly and then remembered why he'd woken up in the first place. He grabbed the phone and wrenched it off the stand. 

"Yes?"

"Hello Rei. It's me. Andrew." Uh-oh... If the boss was phoning him at home it couldn't be good news...

"Here's the thing, Rei...all this stuff with Mariah, it's a bad business..." Andrew's hesitant and apologetic tone told Rei everything.

"And you're firing me?" He asked, knowing the answer already. After all, he'd known that once people heard about what had happened they'd be mistrustful of him.

"No! No...we're...um...the company-" Rei sighed. He couldn't be bothered with all that rubbish so early on a morning.

"Just tell me straight." A sigh from the other end of the line.

"Then we're firing you, Rei. The...uh...the board don't want someone who drives his wife to a mental hospital on the payroll. There'll be severance pay, of course...that'll be sorted out..."

"Good. Was there anything else?"

"Look, I'm sorry-"

"Yeah."

"Um-"

"Was there something else you wanted, or can I go and look after my kids now?" Rei's voice was acid, scathing.

"I'm really sorry-"

"You -said-. Well if that's it, then goodbye."

And he slammed the phone down, sighing in frustration. Well where did that leave him? Scuppered, by all accounts. He would have to start looking for a new job...and he still had to sort out secondary school for Jin...God, why was it all happening to him at once?

He flopped back down beside Bryan, burying his face in the Russian's hair and laying an arm over his waist. "I love you." He whispered, nuzzling at Bryan's neck.

"Nhh..." Rei sighed, closing his eyes.

"I love you so much..."

"Mm...Rei?" Bryan yawned and turned, looking sleepy and puzzled.

"They fired me, Bryan..."

"Oh."

"I think I'm cursed."

"Huh?"

"All these bad things happening to me...I must be cursed..."

"Don't be ridiculous, Rei. It's not a curse, it's life." Rei turned away, pulling the covers up around himself.

"I don't know any other people who in the space of a few days have had their marriage exposed as a sham, their wife try to commit suicide, their kids run away from home and their company fire them."

"You'd be shocked I think. Come on, Rei...it isn't all bad..."

"Yes it is! Everything's gone wrong!" Bryan glared.

"So you don't want me here?" Rei sat up, shocked.

"What? I never said-"

"If everything is so wrong, then I must be wrong too! Is that it, Rei?"

"No! I-I didn't mean..." Rei reached out and grabbed Bryan's wrist. "I'm sorry, Bryan...I didn't mean you..."

"Then it isn't all bad, is it?"

Rei looked up into Bryan's eyes, and the Russian looked back at him. "No." He admitted at length. "It isn't all bad..." Bryan smiled and grabbed him in a bone-crushing hug. "Bryan, I can't breathe-!" The Russian relaxed his hold slightly and looked down at Rei, smiling.

"I love you, you know."

"I do know. And I love you too." Rei smiled back. And their lips met, and-

"Eww, Da-ad!"

"Jin! Niu! Oh!" Rei let go of Bryan and stood up, blushing. "What is it?"

"Niu broke the DVD player!" Jin complained. "And now I can't watch Lion King!"

Rei sighed. Jin watched that movie on a practically daily basis... "I didn't break it, Dad, he did!" Niu cut into his thoughts in irritation, folding her arms.

"Look, both of you-"

"I didn't break it! You did!"

"Oh shut up, you stupid little-"

"Hey!" Bryan shouted over all three of them, making them fall silent and look at him. "Stop squabbling over your DVD player and go and pack. We're all going on holiday." Rei blinked.

"What?"

"You all need a break, so we're going on one." Rei turned and stared at him, incredulous.

"But...where are we going?"

"How does a mansion in Russia sound? Indoor swimming pool, best chef in Europe, snow all around outside?"

"But...how-?" Rei asked, nonplussed.

"I have a friend over there. And he owes me a favour or five. I'll give him a call, book the flights, and then we'll take the first ones they have."

Jin ran over and hugged him tightly, the leapt on his Dad, excited. Niu just smiled. "Well you heard Bryan, we're going on holiday! So go and start packing!" Rei commanded. Jin raced out, giggling.

"I'll help him do his, shall I?" Niu asked, following. Rei nodded, then as Niu shut the door behind her, he turned to Bryan.

"Are you sure this is all okay? Your friend won't mind?"

"Nah, he won't be bothered." Rei smiled and snuggled himself into Bryan's arms.

"I love you more every time you open your mouth, Bryan."

The Russian laughed and Rei took the opportunity to kiss him soundly, feeling that things were finally starting to take a turn for the better...

Fin

* * *

Another fic over... 

Heh, I kinda left it open for a sequel... There will be one if I can make myself write it, but it might take me a while...and by while I mean a LONG while...and only if people actually want to see a sequel in the first place...

In the meantime, R&R? Please?


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